Two hundred and forty years had to pass since the foundation of the United States of America before seeing a woman candidate for president. All that was needed was the nomination of the Democratic Party to make Hillary Rodham Clinton enter history, even though from her first steps in the public scene as First Lady of the governor of Arkansas, it was obvious that she was a proper political animal. A successful lawyer and then the first woman partner in one of the most important American law firms, Hillary did not settle for taking the role of First Lady when Bill Clinton became the 42nd president. After all, HRC’s life is a succession of records: when she was elected senator in New York State, America had never seen a president’s wife be elected to office. Then, Obama wanted her as Secretary of State, but Hillary did not stop there: for the second time she went after the White House. After all has been said and written about her, here is Silvia Giacobini’s first hand testimony. Giacobini met and interviewed her several times from a privileged point of view – without intermediaries. An informal dialogue, like between two friends, in which political and public themes alternate with the conversations of two women who are wives and mothers. After the harsh and exasperated tones of the electoral campaign against the aggressive Trump, the Italian icon of “courteous journalism” finally gives us a more intimate and true image: Hillary Clinton as you’ve never seen her before. From very close up.

The authorSilvana Giacobini, born in Rome but Milanese by adoption, is married and has a daughter. She was director of Gioia, planned and directed the weeklies Chi (Mondadori) and Diva e donna (Cairo). She has written for various newspapers and conducted programmes for RAI and Mediaset, acting as an expert. She has written the novels La signora della città and Un bacio nel buio, that were made into TV films. She also wrote Celebrità, a collection of portraits and Sophia Loren, una vita da romanzo. Cairo published her books Chiudi gli occhi (2007), Conosco il tuo segreto (2009), La settima anima (2011), Il leone di terracotta (2013) and Questo sole ti proteggerà (2015). Her books have been translated in German, Spanish, Czech and Polish.